The serial interface
Deutschmann Automation GmbH & Co. KG
23
Instruction manual UNIGATE
®
IC - DeviceNet V. 4.0
9.2.22
4
The serial interface
4.1
Overview
The serial interface is the most important connection between the UNIGATE
®
IC and the micro
controller of your application. The interface is designed in a way so that your application at least
does not have to be changed on the software-side. The wide range of services of the UNIGATE
®
IC’s serial interface constitutes the basis for it. The UNIGATE
®
IC allows to connect controllers
with a baudrate of 110 baud to 625 kbaud. The baudrate for the communication itself is perma-
nently stored in the module. The maximum size for IO-data can be read-out with the Script com-
mand “
Get RSOutBufFree16
“.
Depending on the downloaded script of the UNIGATE
®
IC, the module carries out actions inde-
pendently, in order to identify data from the connected device. For customers who already have a
software-adaptation at he company Deutschmann Automation, this protocol or script as well can
be processed by the IC after an adaptation.
Anyway, the IC will take over the communication with the fieldbus independently.
4.2
Initialization of the serial interface
The initialization of the interface is carried out by script-commands, such as “
Set baudrate
“,
“
Set databits
“, “
Set parity
“. For a detailed description of these commands see the online
documentation for the Protocol Developer or the instruction manual for the Protocol Developer.
4.3
Use of the serial interface
The serial interface can freely be programmed by the user. Efficient script-commands for sending
and receiving data are available; just to mention some possibilities: such as waiting with timeout
for a character, waiting for a fixed number of characters or also sending and receiving data in the
Modbus RTU. A reference to these commands is offered in the online documentation for the Pro-
tocol Developer as well as in the instruction manual for the Protocol Developer.
4.4
Further operation modes
In the modes configuration mode and firmware-update mode the serial interface also serves to
configure the standard software or to carry out a firmware-update. More details can be found in
